The Power of Training and Inheritance
by LilyPotter56
Summary: Harry runs away from the Dursley's and trains himself for the fight against Voldemort without Dumbledore's permission. Harry learns some interesting things about his heritage. OOTP Spoilers HPHG.
1. Thoughts of Trainig and Diagon Alley

Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, stores, or places, they all

belong to Joanne Kathleen Rowling.

Chapter One - Thoughts of Training and Diagon Alley

It was an unbearably hot summer day in mid-July on Privet Drive and though nobody knew it, starting that day, sometime in the near future would change at the least one person's on the street life for the better. If you dared go outside you would see a young man, seemingly oblivious to the heat, sprawled out on the front lawn of #4. The young man, Harry Potter, was the savior of the wizarding world and hated it. His entrancing emerald green eyes used to be filled with laughter and he often had a mischievous glint, but all they were filled with now was sadness. Sadness that was brought upon him by the death of his godfather, Sirius Black. As Harry lay there, it dawned on him that if he even wanted to pose as a threat to Voldemort he would have to train in several ways.

When that thought crossed his mind, Harry ran into the house and up the stairs to his room. Quickly, he figured out was to be watching the house that night and devised a plan to sneak out to Diagon Alley. Harry spent the rest of the day gathering up his things and figuring out what he would need to do and get to train. His lists are as following:

Need to Learn and/or Work-on

Physical Combat

Endurance and Strength

Dark Arts

Light Arts

All Previously Learned Spells

Figure out How to do Magic Over the Summer

Dueling

Agility

Need to Get

A New Place to Live

Books on Dark Arts

Books on Light Arts

Books on Defense

Books on Physical Combat

Books on Dueling

Books on the Theory of Magic

Books on Transfiguration

Books on Charms

Books on Hexes and Jinxes

Workout Set

Set of Weights

New Casual/Formal Clothes

New Robes

Later that night, when Dung Fletcher was on duty, Harry snuck out and flagged the Knight Bus.

"How ya doin' Harry," said Stan, "where to?"

"I'm fine, thanks and the Leaky Cauldron," replied Harry.

" Alrighty then, come on in, we should get ther pretty quickly, since your the only person onboard," said Stan, grabbing Harry's belongings and shrinking them before handing them back to Harry.

The ride to the Leaky Cauldron was, as always very jerky and rough, but Hary made it out alive.

"Good evenin', Mr. Potter, what can I do for you tonight," asked Tom.

"Well, Tom, I'll be needing a room for more or less the next two weeks and I'd really like some butterbeer as well," said Harry.

Tom checked a big red book on the desk and then said, " Follow me, Mr. Potter, your in the Bachelor's Suite, room 26, which comes with a kitchenette and a refrigerator filled with whatever you need."

"Thanks, Tom, and goodnight," said Harry as he walked into the room.

* * *

Harry woke up the next morning to the sound of Hedwig tapping on the window. He opened the window to let her in and he was surprised to find that the letter was from Gringotts. It was an invoice of his account, but he didn't look at it. There was also a letter from them saying what he would get when he turned sixteen. He wrote them back saying he would be there in about a half hour.

He hopped into the shower, then fixed himself a quick breakfast, and ran outside to Diagon Alley. As soon as he got there he went straight to Gringotts, where he was greeted by Griphook.

"Mr. Potter, sir, if you would follow me, please, we can get down to business," said Griphook.

He led Harry into a large conference room with five goblins sitting at the end of a long table. The goblins didn't seem to be happy about having to wait so long.

"Good morning, sirs," said Harry, "I'm ready to get started whenever you are."

"Mr. Potter, we are here to discuss you recently enlarged accounts. After the death of Sirius Black, you were given all of his money and belongings, the money adds up to over 800 million galleons," said the head goblin, Gargon.

"Well, Gargon, I'll accept the money on one condition, that one hundred galleons be put into both Remus Lupin's and the Weasley family vaults, please," said Harry, "and I'd also like to go over my inheritance as well, please."

"Of course, Mr. Potter, your inheritance consists of all that is in your school vault, savings account, small family vault, and the very large ancient Potter family vault. We aren't allowed to tell you about the rest of your inheritance until after your birthday, later on."

"You mean that I have more than one vault?" asked Harry.

"Why, of course, Mr. Potter, I don't know why you're so surprised the Potter family is the richest of all the pureblood families."

"Um, Gargon, I'll be needing quite a bit of both muggle and wizarding money, is there a way I could get money without either having to come back here or lugging around a huge money bag?"

"Mr. Potter, for the muggle world, I can give you a credit card and an I.D. and for the wizarding world, I can give you a bottomless money bag. If you sign here, I can get them to you right away."

Harry signed the paper and he was handed a emerald green sack with an I.D. and credit card. Harry walked out of Gingotts and headed down the street to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter, what can I do for you," asked Madame Malkin.

"I'll be needing two sets of dress robes in emerald green silk and velvet, three pairs of battle robes in any color, five black everyday robes, three winter cloaks in dark green, black, and dark blue, three summer cloaks in the same colors, two traveling cloaks in dark green and black, and the all need to have the Potter family crest on them."

Harry left a half hour later with two pairs of dress shoes, a couple belts, and all his robes. Right before he left, he asked her if she knew of any eyewear stores.

"Well, dear, there's one three doors down called Magical Practical Eyewear."

Harry made his way down to the eyewear store and walked in seeing all kinds of glasses and whizzing eyeballs like Mad Eye Moody's.

"What can I do for you, young man," said the lady behind the counter.

"Well, ma'am, I was wondering if you could either correct my vision or had some magical contacts that could help me."

"Of course, I do dear, can I see your glasses for a moment, please?"

Harry handed her his glasses and she walked off looking through the shelves for the right pair of contacts. She came back a minute later with a small box in her hand.

"Young man, if you'll trust me, I need you to open your eyes wide and try not to blink, I can put the contacts in with magic so you won't ever have to take them out and add the enchantments if you want them."

"Ma'am, I trust you, but could you, please tell me what the enchantments are?"

"The enchantments are the ability to see perfectly at night, the ability to see through objects, and your eyes will be protected from harmful spells."

"I'll take all of the enchantments, please, ma'am," said Harry, he then opened his eyes and opened them wide and waited for her to begin.

When she was finished the contacts seemed to have dissolved into Harry's eyes and he could see perfectly. "Now, young man, at first your ability of seeing through objects will go haywire and it'll take a lot of concentration to control it. I might take a few hours or a few weeks for it to get to where you don't even have to concentrate to get it to work and please, don't come back until after you get under control, I wear my clothes fro a reason. Goodbye."

"Sure thing, ma'am," replied Harry as he walked out of the shop. Harry headed to Flourish and Blott's. There he gave the owner a list of subjects and asked him to send him a books from all the subjects, to charge it to his accounts and to not be afraid of putting a lot of books because Harry was most definitely not short on money. Harry then left and head to the old trunk shop by Knockturn Alley.

"Mr. Potter, I presume," said an elderly man from behind the desk, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, sir, I'm looking for a multi-compartment trunk."

"The trunks out here have four and seven compartments, but if you have enough money there is a twelve compartment trunk in the back that I made, but I can't remember who I made it for, all I know is that he died before it was finished and that his family didn't want it. The man, I remember, said something about wanting to be able to hide in the wide open by living in the trunk with his family, I wasn't able to identify the crest on the top, but if you can tell me what it is I'll take 10 percent off the cost."

"I'll take that chest, could you bring it out for me to see, please?"

The man walked into the storeroom and came back with a ring in his hand. He pointed his wand at it and said _'ex-transformio',_ the ring then turned into a nice sized trunk. The man explained all the enchantments placed on it, how you could only get in if you were keyed in, how to key someone and delete someone and how to get from compartment to compartment from inside the trunk.

Harry was about to pay, before he realized that the crest on the trunk was an intricately carved and painted Potter crest, when he realized it he said, "Sir, the crest on that trunk is my family crest, the Potter crest." Harry then paid the new price and left the store heading back to the Leaky Cauldron to sleep, because the next day was going to be very busy.


	2. Knockturn Alley

Disclaimer- I don not own Harry Potter characters, places, etc.

Chapter Two- Knockturn Alley

Harry got up the next morning put on his black traveling cloak put his hood up and headed to Knockturn Alley. His first stop was Borgin and Burke's, to see if he could get any books on the Dark Arts.

"Borgin," said Harry to the man in the shop, "show me where you keep all your important books."

"Why should I," asked Borgin.

"Because you'll get handsomely paid for it," replied Harry, "and I also want to know if you can show me how to do magic outside of school without getting caught."

"Sir, while I am suspicious of you, I'll show you those books and get you the potion to get rid of the Ministry's tracking spell, on one condition, that you put me under the Cruciatius curse."

"All right," said Harry I agree.

Borgin led Harry into a large room in the back of the shop and left him there. Harry started looking at the books in the room and had around 50 books picked out before Borgin came back.

"Now sir, if you can put the Cruciatius on me I will give you the potion."

Harry readied himself and started bringing up all the hate he had ever felt in his life and the yelled "Crucio." He held it for about 30 seconds before letting up.

"Very good sir, here's the potion and don't tell anyone about this area of the shop."

"I won't," said Harry leaving behind a large sack of money before leaving. As he walked down the street he saw a sign that said "Tatoos" and walked in.

"Excuse me, sir, what can I do for you," asked a middle aged man.

"Well, sir," said Harry putting his hood down, "I was wondering what kind of tattoos you had."

"Young man, I have muggle tattoos and a ancient kind of tattoos used by the Native Americans."

"I'd like to see the Native American tattoos, please," said Harry.

"Sir, you can't really see the tattoos considering the tattoos show up after you take a potion and the tattoo or tattoos will resemble parts of your soul."

"I'd like to do that," said Harry, "is there anything else that is special about them."

"Why of course, there is each tattoo has a special power. Before we do this, sir, I must remind you that this will hurt like hell."

"Let's just get it over with, please," said Harry.

The man told Harry to strip down to his boxers, so he could find all the tattoos that showed up and then led him to a kind of massage table and bolted him to it. Seeing Harry's scared face he said it was just so he didn't move while the tattoos showed up. The man then gave Harry the potion and waited.

Harry all of the sudden felt a searing pain go all throughout his body stopping certain spots every now and then. After about a half hour the man started coloring the tattoos and gave Harry a pain relieving potion and helped his sit up after unbolting him.

"Sir, something unusual happened when the potion started working, instead of getting the usual one tattoo you now have eight tattoos in various places. You have a phoenix, stag, huge black dog, wolf, a red lily, an owl, lion, lightning bolt. You will have to find what their powers are by yourself. Goodbye."

Harry thanked the man and then left the shop heading back to the Leaky Cauldron.


	3. Happy Birthday, Harry!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter characters, places, etc.

Chapter Three- Happy Birthday Harry!

Harry spends the next two weeks before his birthday organizing his new things and exploring his trunk. The first week he explored his trunk.

In the first compartment there was an elegant library with books from all over the world including both muggle and wizarding texts. The bookcases were made of the finest mahogany and had very intricately carved designs on them. In between the bookcases was a beautiful fireplace with a fire already burning. In front of the fire there were two armchairs, a nice comfy couch and a few beanbag chairs. Off to the side there was a desk that was stacked high books.

The second compartment held a large kitchen. In there was the newest appliances, and the cabinets were made out of a honey colored oak. There was a huge counter and an island that would be great for cooking meals both large and small. Towards the side there was a kitchen table that magically adjusted itself for the number of people in the kitchen and the refrigerator refilled and refreshed itself whenever it needed to.

The third and fourth compartments held bedrooms. Each room had at least one four-poster bed and a dresser in it. Each room was decorated in deep shades of red, blue, or green. Each bedroom had a bathroom as well with a shower and a Jacuzzi tub. The fifth compartment was huge master bedroom; it was decorated in Gryffindor colors. In it was a king-sized bed, a large bureau, a big bathroom with a tub the size of a swimming pool, a shower, and a magical massage table.

The sixth compartment was a dining room. It had a large dining table, which would seat at least 30 people. The room had several paintings on the wall, which Harry figured were pictures of his ancestors because they all looked a lot like him.

The seventh compartment was a humongous dueling chamber. There were magical dummies on one side; a wall of swords, staffs, daggers, and other fighting tools, there was also a dueling platform. The eighth compartment was a large empty room that would be perfect place for him to put exercise equipment. The ninth compartment was a potions lab that would make Snape jealous if he ever saw it. The tenth through twelfth compartments were just place to keep extra things.

The second week Harry just read through some of the books in his new library.

On the night before his birthday, Harry, stayed up until midnight until count down to his birthday. All of the sudden Harry felt a surge of power rip through him. When the feeling was gone Harry felt very powerful and he looked a lot different. If you had been watching him you would have seen him go from a scrawny boy of about 5 foot 3in. to a very well built young man of around 5 ft 11in. Harry's once unruly hair, was now long enough for him to pull back into a ponytail.

After Harry looked himself over, he heard a loud pecking at his window. He opened it to find about twelve owls rushing in to find a place to perch. The first letter he opened was from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

How are you? Why haven't you written me this summer? Where are you we're so worried about you. I just hope that Voldemort hasn't gotten you. Please write back soon if you can.

Love,

Hermione

P.S. I got24 O.W.L.s that's the highest anyone's ever gotten in all of Hogwarts's history including Dumbledore, but it said somebody else got the same amount as me. I wonder who it is.

Harry opened her gift and found a set of shrunken encyclopedias on the Defense Against the Dark Arts and a necklace that had an emerald pendant on it. Attached to the necklace was a note.

_Harry,_

_This necklace is a Remember Me Always pendant. I have one with a sapphire on it. The pendant lets each of us know what emotions the other is feeling as well as whether or not they are in danger._

_Hermione_

His next gift was from Ron. In it was a box of WWW jokes, a new sweater from Mrs. Weasely, and some pies from her as well. His letter was just about the same as Hermione's only he got 16 O.W.L.s. The next letter was from Hogwarts.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Below this are your O.W.L. scores. You as well as one other student have gotten the highest scores in all of Hogwarts's history._

_O- 2 O.W.L.s_

_E- 1 O.W.L.s_

_A- 0 O.W.L.s_

_D- 0 O.W.L.s_

_Transfiguration- Theory-O, Practical-O_

_Potions- Theory-O, Practical-O_

_Care of Magical Creatures- Theory-O, Practical-O_

_History of Magic-Theory- D_

_Astronomy-Theory-E, Practical-A_

_Divination-Theory-D, Practical-D_

_Charms-Theory-O, Practical-O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts-Theory-O, Practical-O+ (the plus sign means you got 3 points added for you corporeal patronus)_

_Congratulations Mr. Potter you have 24 O.W.L.s._

_Sincerely,_

_The Hogwarts's Staff_

The next package was from Dumbledore, it was a pensieve. It also came with a very angry and worried letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you have a happy birthday. Please tell me where you are? You aren't safe wherever you are and don't try to just rip this letter up and not write to me. I charmed it so it would follow you around until you answered it._

_Professor Dumbledore _

Along with Dumbledore's letter came Harry's list of supplies. It said he would need a new set of dress robes for an event happening later in the year.

The nest letter was from Gringotts saying that they would be waiting for him at the bank to tell him of the rest of his inheritance. The last one was from Flourish and Blott's telling him he would get all of his books in about a week and what the price was.

Harry then got dressed and hurried to Gringotts. When he got there he was once again led to a back chamber.

"Mr. Potter, it is good to see you," said Gargon," I would like to discuss the rest of your inheritance."

"Of course, sir, I would like to as well," replied Harry.

"Well, Mr. Potter, you have inherited quite a few estates and you are now allowed to move into any one you wish. You have also inherited the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Merlin family vaults. You are now the richest young man in the whole wizarding community."

"I'm what?" said Harry amazed.

"You're the richest man in the wizarding world. Now that, that's settled. Good day."

Harry walked out of the shop and headed to muggle London to get himself so new clothes and some things to tie his hair back. Harry ended up with 5 new pairs of jeans, 10 t-shirts, 6 polos, and 3 pairs of khakis.


	4. Letters and Organizing a Lifestyle

A/N-I'd like to thank all me reviewers, and my betas (HPandHG)-Sophia and (HandsOff)-Hannah for their support on my story.

Also,Everyone, I'm sorry I took so long to update. I was trying to decide whether or not to delete the story and start over.

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter characters, places, etc.

Chapter 4- Letters and Organizing a Lifestyle

Harry spent the rest of his birthday responding to his letters. The first one he responded to was Hermione's letter.

_Dear Hermione,_

_The reason you haven't heard from me all summer is because I've been working really hard lately and I forgot to write. I can't tell you where I am because I'm not a t a permanent station at the moment, although, I will be really soon. As soon as I think the time is right I'll come and get you, and only you. Please don't tell Dumbledore about this though. Please don't be worried about me and if you insist you can worry about me acting out of character because today or tomorrow I'm going to start studying a whole bunch of things. Where are you right now, your house, or Grimmauld Place?_

_Love,_

_Harry_

The next letter he wrote was to Ron and the Mrs. Weasley.

_Dear Mrs. Weasley and Ron,_

_Thank you for the pies and the sweater. I can't tell you where I am at the moment because I haven't moved to a permanent spot yet and sorry, Mrs. Weasley, but I can't even tell you a place near where I am because I don't want you to know right now because I'm going to move to move somewhere else soon._

_Harry_

The next one was written only because the letter wouldn't leave him alone.

_Prof. Dumbledore,_

_I cannot tell you where I am because__ you will try to find me. I'm safe, so trying to return me to the Dursley's won't do any good. After all, if you won't tell me anything about Voldemort, which I believe I have the right to know, then I will focus on training against him._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter_

Harry was starting to write a letter to Remus, when Hedwig flew through the window with a letter in her beak. It was from Remus.

_Dear Harry,_

_I know you are sad after Sirius's death, but did you have to go and do something as drastic as to running away? Can you please tell me where you are? It would settle my mind a great deal just to know where you are, even if I can't go there._

_Remus_

Harry wrote his response to Remus' letter almost immediately. It just said that he had already mourned Sirius and that he couldn't tell him of his whereabouts.

After replying to all his letters, Harry once again headed over to Gringotts, this time to organize his accounts. When he got there Griphook took him to his vaults. Harry spent nearly five hours there looking through the different estates and companies he owned. He was surprised to find he had several houses in England, Switzerland, Scotland, Hogsmead, Ireland, Spain, and France, he even had a house somewhere near the dragon reservation in Romania. Harry left Gringotts and headed to muggle London to get some more things that he had forgotten before.

In London Harry headed straight to the sports shop, hoping to find a full work out set for his trunk. At the shop Harry got a set of weights, a bench press, a full work out set, and a bike. Harry headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to put the equipment in his trunk and to figure out what house he was planning on staying in for the rest of the summer.

Once at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry set to work on setting his work out equipment up in his trunk. Harry opened the trunk and climbed down into the large empty room and pulled out the little shrunken figures of his workout equipment and un-shrunk them. Carefully, Harry walked around the room taking in every aspect of it, before deciding what would be the best way to set every thing up. The bench press and the large workout set were put in the far left corner, the set of weights were put on shelves that Harry conjured next to them, and Harry decided that, later, he would go back to muggle London and get a boxing set, a punching bag, a few books and movies on how to do martial arts, and a huge mat, to fill in the rest of the room.

For the rest of the week, Harry got himself settled into a kind of workout routine. Every morning he would wake up at 6 o'clock and run a mile. At first he could barely make it, but by the end of the week he could make the mile easily. After running he would lift weights for one hour, and then he would eat breakfast. About fifteen minutes after breakfast he would ride his bike for two hours, after that he would then weight lift again, and then he would study.

By the end of the week, Harry had received all of the books he had ordered from Flourish and Blott's. Since he received the books he had started to organize his library. The first thing he did though was to see if he had any books on magical household organization, which he did. He quickly found the spell to alphabetize his books. First he organized them by subject such as, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Occulmency, household spells, etc. and then he alphabetized them with a quick, "_Abecedarium_."


	5. A Place to Call Home

_**Chapter Five**_

_**A Place to Call Home**_

Harry was anxious to see Hermione, so he decided it was time for him to learn to apparate, and for him to pick out the house he was going to stay in.

Harry ran over to the bookshelf from his desk and pulled put all the books he had on apparation and started reading. Surprisingly enough, he got through them all in nearly three hours. Harry made a list of all the important things about apparation, such as, picturing the place, picturing yourself there, and willing yourself to go there.

Harry immediately went into his training chamber and padded all the walls and put up barriers around the room so he could only apparate in there. Then he wlake the length of the room and memorized every detail of it and walked to one end and stood still. There he closed his eyes and cleared his mind of everything except the picture of the other wall. Slowly he visualized himself there and willed himself to go and as soon as he opened his eyes he realized he had done it. He spent the rest of the day practicing apparating around his trunk and then around the Leaky Cauldron.

The following day he walked around London and Diagon Alley memorizing his favorite stores and places. As soon as he got back to the Leaky Cauldron he started apparating to all those places. After doing that, Harry felt he would be able to go look at his houses after lunch.

Harry ate a quick lunch of a turkey sandwich and a bottle of butterbeer. While he was eating lunch, Harry was looking at the pictures of all his houses so he could apparate to them. After eating, Harry headed to the first house in London. It was a very large house, about 3 stories, with columns on the front and huge oak doors leading into the main hall. The rest of the house was just as magnificent as the outside. It had a huge spiraling staircase that lead to all the floors, and there were probably 30 bedrooms in the whole house, not including the dining room, kitchen, ballroom, study, and library. After looking around Harry decided that the house was too extravagant for what he wanted.

The next house he went to was Godric's Hollow. The house was two stories, and was painted white. It looked like the perfect house for a family to grow up in. On the inside there were lots of pictures both muggle and magical of the marauders, his parents, and himself. Harry walked around the house and found that it was very tidy, and everything was just the right style, nothing too fancy or too cheap. Even though, the house was nice, it still wasn't what Harry was looking for. Harry decided to skip the rest of the houses in England that he would go check out the one in Scotland.

The house in Scotland was a little thatched roof cottage that had to rooms: a bedroom, and a kitchen. It definitely wasn't he was looking for. The house in Hogsmead was very similar to Godric's Hollow, so it was off to Ireland to look at that house. The house was the exact same style as the one in Scotland, so Harry decided that ho ought to head to Switzerland.

In Switzerland, the house was way up in the Alps surrounded by trees and all that good stuff. It was a medium sized house with one level. It contained three bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, and living room. After pondering it over for a bit, Harry decided that it was a nice size, but he'd like a place that had more land surrounding it.

Harry arrived in Spain just before dinner, so he stopped for a bite in town before walking to his house. It was rather large as well, so Harry shook his head and headed to France in hopes of finding a good house. There in France, Harry came across yet another mansion, even grander than the ones before it, so it was off to the last house, in Romania.

Harry's house, he soon found out was five miles from the reservation and had a biking trail that lead to it. The house it self was one story, with a basement and was very nice. It had three bedrooms, a study, kitchen with room for a table to fit comfortably, and a family. Finally happy with a house, Harry decided to stay there in Romania.

Quickly, Harry apparated to Leaky Cauldron and checked out of his room. After shrinking everything and putting it in his pocket, Harry then apparated back to Romania, to set up his house.

At the house Harry took his second set of work out equipment and set it up in the basement along with moving his training area out of his trunk and into the basement, as well. Upstairs, Harry decorated everything in light shades of green, yellow, and blue. His study, though, he set up so it had dark red carpet, and Mahogany shelves with a matching desk. The bedrooms were all decorated the exact same way. They had a queen size bed with a light blue comforter and yellow and blue pillows, the curtains were a light yellow with blue tie-backs and the walls were painted with a scene of walking up to a little cottage with a white picket fence surrounding it. The kitchen was painted a light yellow, and the window above the stove was curtained with a fabric with a light yellow background and blue and green kitchen utensils all over it. The living room kind of had a rustic feel to it, with its wooden walls covered in black and white muggle pictures and old flags, along with a lot of other things, it had hardwood floors, as well.

When Harry was done decorating he murmured, "Finally, a place to call home…. A place that feels like home."


	6. Surprises for Hermione

Chapter Six

Surprises for Hermione

Harry had just sat down at his desk and started writing a letter to Hermione, when Hedwig came flying through the window carrying the letter. Harry's eyes lit up when he saw whom it was from.

Dear Harry,

It's so good to hear from you. We were worried sick. Even Prof. Dumbledore couldn't find you. Well, anyway, are you sure about this whole, coming and picking me up thing? I mean, it would be great to see you, but what should I tell my parents? They'll get worried. By the way, I'm at home.

Love,

Hermione

Harry quickly wrote his reply.

Hermione,

Just tell your parents your going over to a friend's house for the rest of the summer. They'll think you're at Ron's. There is one thing though, leave a note for your parents telling them where you really are, should Dumbledore question them. I'll charm it to appear only after Dumbledore has come and gone. Oh, and could you send me a picture of your house and your address?

Love,

Harry

Harry spent the next hour fixing up Hermione's room. After he was done he head to the dragon reservation to talk to Charlie.

Harry grabbed his bike and rode to the reservation. At the gates a voice asked him to sate his business. Harry replied, "I'm looking for Charlie Weasley."

The voice told him to follow the red path to the mess hall and he should find Charlie there. The gates opened and Harry followed the trail until he came to a very noisy red tent. Figuring this was the mess hall he walked inside.

Harry walked to the front and shouted, "Quiet down! Now!" Everyone fell silent at once, looking for the person that had interrupted his or her meal. Finally spotting him, someone shouted, "What do you want?"

"I'm looking for Charlie Weasley. Charlie, when you're ready I'll be outside."

Five minutes later, Charlie came out looking confused.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Charlie demanded.

Harry laughed, "Guess!"

Charlie glared at him saying, "Stop playing, and tell me who you are!"

I'm playing. You should know me… We met at the World Cup a couple years ago. You should hear about me quite a lot from your siblings," Harry said mock seriously, before breaking into a grin.

"Harry!" Realization dawned on Charlie's face. "What're you are you doing here? Everyone is looking for you! I'm going to floo Dumbledore."

"No! Charlie, please don't do that! I came here to get away from Dumbledore! Anyway, I just stopped by to tell you I'm here and to ask you a question. Do you know if Hermione's house is being watched or is warded? If not, but you still want to visit, I live five miles up the road. I'm the little white cottage. Bye!"

Harry then sped off towards home. "Harry, Wait! I have the next watch on Hermione's house this afternoon at 3pm. As long as you promise that you'll come to me if there are any problems, I'll just let you slip in and get her. You also have to promise that if I get in trouble you'll show yourself and confess, all right."

"All right. I agree. Three o'clock then? Bye!"

Once back at the house, Harry decided his hair was a little to long and that it needed to be cut. Harry then apparated to London.

Harry walked the streets of London until he came across a barber shop that specialized in different kinds of military and sporty hair cuts. He walked inside and was greeted by a man he guessed to be around 30. "How can I help you?" the man asked.

"Well," Harry answered, "I was hoping you could help me out there. I've started a new workout regime and I need something that won't get in my way but will also look nice for a night on the plaza or something of that sort."

"I think I can help you there. You could either get a buzz cut or the American military hair cut, which is buzzed on the sides and is left a little bit longer on the top."

"I'll take the military hair style, sir," said Harry after pondering it for a moment.

"If you'll just follow me, then we can get started," said the man, eyeing Harry's long hair.

Harry sat in the barber chair for nearly a half-hour before the man was done. Harry was surprised at how good it looked.

After getting his hair cut, Harry headed over to a military uniform shop. The reason Harry went in there was because he decided he was going to tease Hermione a bit when he picked her up. Finding a uniform that looked good on him was tough. He ended up with a navy formal dress uniform.

When Harry got back to the house Hedwig was waiting with Hermione's address and picture. Quickly, Harry changed into his new 'uniform' and apparated to Hermione's house.

Harry walked briskly up to the front door and rang the doorbell. After about 30 seconds Hermione answered the door. "Hello, officer. What can I do for you?"

Harry replied, "This is the Granger household, correct?"

"Yes, sir. It is," Hermione said looking confused.

"In that case I was told that a Ms. Hermione Granger would be awaiting my arrival."

"Well, I'm Hermione Granger, but I don't know who you are, or who could possibly be working for."

"I suppose, I shouldn't be surprised that you don't remember me, Hermione. I mean we only went to school together for _five _years."

Hermione went through all the people she could have possibly gone to school with, but no one came to mind. Finally, Hermione said, "If you could please just tell me who you are, we can both go about our business."

"All right, Hermione. All right. Lit. Harold J. Potter at your service, madame."

"Harry!" Hermione screamed. "Is that really you? You look so different. Your hair is different, your at least a foot taller, and you most definitely are not looking underfed."

"Really, I could say the same to you. Let's see, your hair seems more controllable, you have certainly filled out, and you've gotten taller as well."

"Um, Harry?"

"Yes?"

"How are we going to get me out of here without getting caught?"

"Let's just say I've struck a deal, with you guard for the evening. As long as we're out of here by 3:15, he won't tell Dumbledore." "Now hold on tight. We have to leave now." Hermione grabbed onto Harry and the disapparated a second later.

The look on Hermione's face was priceless when they appeared in front of the cottage a moment later. It held a look of absolute surprise.

"Well, What do you think?" asked Harry.

"It's wonderful, Harry! Absolutely wonderful!"

"Really? You think so? It took me forever to pick to pick the one I thought was just right. I went through every single one of my properties."

"Oh, That's so sweet of you!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Are you ready to go inside?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I would love to."

They walked inside and Hermione started walking around taking everything in.

"It's not much, but I hope you like it," said Harry pulling Hermione out of her daze.

"What? Oh! Harry this house is wonderful! Where are we anyway?" Hermione said in a questioning tone.

"We're in Romania, not very far from the reservation, actually," responded Harry.

"What reservation?"

"The dragon reservation. You know the one where Charlie Weasley works?"

"Isn't it dangerous for your cover being so close to an Order member?"

"Don't worry about it. I talked to Charlie this morning. He said as long as he didn't get in trouble for helping us, he wouldn't tell. In fact he was your guard this afternoon."

"Can we invite him for dinner sometime? It would be really fascinating to hear about all the dragons!" Hermione's face lit up at the thought.

"Actually, Hermione, I was wondering if you would mind having him over every Sunday night, so we can go over our plans for the following week."

"That would be great."

"Now that that's over with would you like a tour of the house?"

They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing things like sleeping arrangements and what to tell people when they get back, etc.


	7. The Dragons

Disclaimer- I don not own Harry Potter characters, places, etc.

Chapter Seven – The Dragons

The next morning Hermione woke to a wonderful smell wafting up the stairs. She quickly got up, dressed, and headed downstairs.

"Good morning, Hermione," Harry said jovially.

"Good morning. It smells really good. What are you cooking?"

"Bacon, eggs, and pancakes."

"Sounds delicious."

"After breakfast I was planning on going to see Charlie," said Harry. "Do you want to come?"

"I would love to. Oh! I need to make a schedule of when we meet with Charlie."

"Hermione!" Harry laughed. "Eat breakfast. Then we can go and see Charlie. You can make your schedule when we get back."

"Anyway, do you want to ride or walk to the reservation? If you want to ride, I'll have to transfigure a bike. Hold on a sec."

Harry ran out of the room and came back five minutes later with a dark purple bike.

"Hey Hermione!" Harry called from the front yard. "What do you think?"

Hermione came outside and gave it a spin around the yard. "It's perfect. How did you do it?"

"There is a certain advantage to having nearly a thousand books on just about every subject imaginable."

Hermione laughed and they headed in to eat breakfast.

After breakfast Harry grabbed his and Hermione's bikes and waited outside for Hermione.

"Hermione! Come on, I want to show you the dragons before we meet Charlie!"

"I'm coming! I'll be out in a second!"

Hermione came outside a couple minutes later with five or six rolls of parchment in her hand.

"What are those?" asked Harry.

"It's our schedule. Come on let's go!"

Hermione started riding off. Then she stopped suddenly and called back to him. "Harry! You need to lead the way. I don't know where the reservation is!"

Harry jumped on his bike and sped toward Hermione, then past her. Hermione followed and they raced each other all the way to the reservation.

When they got there Harry stated his business and they went inside.

"The dragons are this way! Follow me!"

The came to a large fenced in area that looked deserted except for about six men. All of the sudden there was a loud roar coming from the sky. Looking up they saw a huge black dragon hurtling their way. They jumped away from the fence. The dragon landed just inside the enclosure, but stuck his head in Harry and Hermione's direction with what can only be described as a questioning look.

The dragon then started nuzzling Harry as if he knew him. The dragon handlers ran over and were surprised to see what was happening. They asked Harry what he had done to calm the dragon. Harry replied he had done nothing. The dragon handlers seemed very surprised.

One of the men said, "I don't know how you did it! This feller has been given us huge trouble ever since he arrived."

"You mean he wasn't born here?" asked Hermione.

"No he wasn't. Charlie Weasley brought him here when he was just a hatchling."

"He wouldn't happen to be a Norwegian Ridgeback would he?" asked Harry.

"Sure is. Why do you know something about him?"

"We sure do. We delivered him to Charlie when we were in our first year at Hogwarts. Our grounds keeper Hagrid won his egg gambling and after he hatched he was to hazardous to keep on the grounds."

Harry walked towards the dragon and stuck out his hand as if to pet him. Talking gently he said, "It's nice to see you again Norbert. How's it been?"

Norbert nuzzled his hand and the looked over towards Hermione. Hermione walked over and rubbed Norbert's head, saying, "Hello again Norbert. Long time no see."

"Harry! Hermione!" called Charlie. " I see you've met Norbert!"

"Hey Charlie! It's nice to see you," said Hermione.

"So, I take it operation kidnap Hermione went well?"

"Sure did. She went without a fuss. Didn't you Hermione?"

"Everything went wonderfully Charlie. We were wondering if you wouldn't mind having dinner with us on Sundays so we can catch up on Order news and such?"

"That would be fine. I don't get off of the reservation that much anyway."

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, "I almost forgot I made up a schedule of when we can meet. Here you go."

Charlie took one look at the parchment and started chuckling. "Hermione, I thought you said we were meeting every Sunday? Well those dates are just in case something happen on a Sunday so we can reschedule later in the week."

Charlie and Harry laughed at Hermione's logic. "So we'll see you Sunday then?" said Harry.

"I'll be there around seven. How's that sound?" "Wonderful."

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I've really busy and not very motivated. Thanks for all the reviews!


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